report<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cEarly intervention programmes designed to prevent children and young people from using drugs are in sharp decline,\u201d said Warken, whose ministry commissioned the study. \u201cAnyone turning a blind eye to this is putting the health of our youngest at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
The final report is due in April 2028, on the basis of which the government will decide on the CDU\/CSU\u2019s drive to abolish the legislation.<\/p>\n
Controversial passing of cannabis law<\/p>\n
The legislation, which came into force on April 1, 2024, introduced strict regulations following an intense national debate. It allows adults to grow up to three plants for personal use and possess up to 50 grams of cannabis at home or 25 grams in public.<\/p>\n
The policy was intended as a pragmatic compromise\u2014legalizing existing adult consumption while undercutting illegal markets. However, it faced strong opposition from Friedrich Merz\u2019s CDU and the Christian Social Union (CSU).<\/p>\n
Despite earlier election pledges to repeal what Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt called a \u201cshitty law\u201d, those plans have not materialized due to resistance from coalition partner SPD.<\/p>\n
Dobrindt has remained highly critical, calling the reform a \u201ctotal flop\u201d and arguing it is \u201charmful to young people and encouraging crime\u201d. He added: \u201cThe black market is booming, crime is on the rise.\u201d<\/p>\n
Study into aftermath<\/p>\n
Researchers involved in the study offered a more nuanced assessment. They found that while legal consumption among adults is gradually increasing, it is also \u201cslowly squeezing out\u201d illicit trade.<\/p>\n
Regarding overall usage, the researchers concluded that \u201can increase in consumption that could be attributed to the reform is not apparent at this stage\u201d.<\/p>\n
They estimate total annual cannabis demand in Germany at between 670 and 823 tonnes, with a growing number of users cultivating the drug themselves. Around 5 million people in Germany consume cannabis at least occasionally.<\/p>\n
Non-commercial growing associations\u2014known as cannabis clubs\u2014remain a limited factor in reducing black market activity. According to the interim report, they \u201cstill play a minor role in partially displacing the black market\u201d.<\/p>\n
Strict licensing requirements have hindered their expansion, with only 3.5% of users obtaining cannabis through these clubs last year.<\/p>\n
Oliver Waack-J\u00fcrgensen of Berlin\u2019s Cannabis Club High Ground said: \u2018The situation with the authorities is totally unclear.\u2019<\/p>\n
Experts have suggested easing regulations. Kinzig recommended \u201crelaxing these very restrictive eligibility criteria for growers\u2019 associations slightly, so that cannabis can then also be obtained legally through these associations\u201d.<\/p>\n
Wegge and Pantazis warned that organized crime would remain entrenched in regions such as Bavaria, where cannabis clubs face tighter restrictions. They stressed that \u201cit is precisely these clubs that are needed to supply people safely and in a controlled manner. They are an essential component in curbing organised crime.\u201d<\/p>\n
By Nazrin Sadigova<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Germany\u2019s partial legalization of recreational cannabis\u2014introduced by a previous centre-left government\u2014was hailed as a landmark reform in 2024,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8,14,13,5,9,12,7,11,10,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-2055","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-analysis-of-azerbaijan","9":"tag-azerbaijan","10":"tag-baku","11":"tag-germany","12":"tag-important-news-of-azerbaijan","13":"tag-international-experts","14":"tag-interviews","15":"tag-interviews-with-azerbaijani-analysts","16":"tag-news-from-baku","17":"tag-news-of-azerbaijan"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}